How Detrimental is Your Computer?

Many students find it more useful to take notes on their computer as opposed to typical handwritten notes. It often is easier to keep up with the professor, you can obtain more information, and sometimes do a little side work.

A recent study actually determined that students using a laptop scored between 0.27 and 0.38 grade points lower on a four-point GPA scale than their classmates who took notes without a laptop. That is half a letter grade!

Students who used laptops to “take notes in class” spent over a third of class time browsing the internet for nonacademic reasons. Even in the cases where students were using their laptops to look up academic information to supplement the course work—something that many instructors think of as a benefit—the study found no improvement to final exam scores.

Rethink your note-taking techniques! Handwriting your notes can be much more beneficial for the outcome of your grade.